Been there, still doing that (after a fashion, now in education). Beware, or one day you'll probably wake up and realise that you've become embittered and maybe even a little twisted. You may be one of the very few who actually makes a mint, or manages to remains productive and enthusiastic throughout a long career, but the odds are certainly stacked against you. In this culture, no-one outside of your field actually CARES what you do. They will only see what you have and probably judge you (harshly) in the first seven seconds anyway.
It's a sad comment on the "Western Way" and - in my view - will ultimately undermine what we now call capitalism. Here in the UK it's already started: an economy bootstrapping on a housing bubble just cannot work when the bubble bursts. Without SOME good scientists and engineers (in relevant jobs) we cannot hope to overcome the challenges which face us. If we only ship people in from other countries, we will ultimately be without the strategic technical base needed to keep the country running properly in the 21st century.
Some very perceptive, elegant and incisive comments on this topic have been posted on /. for quite a while now. Just remember, when the shit hits the fan, where you read about it first...